Sears, Roebuck & Co. said Wednesday that it will introduce a new credit card that will offer the services of a conventional bank credit card and at the same time provide access to the retailing giant's array of financial services. The Chicago-based company said it will begin testing its new "credit-financial services card" by the end of the year in pilot markets, which it declined to identify. The card will be issued by Greenwood Trust Co.

After the biggest initial public offering in U.S. history, Visa Inc. shares soared 28% in their stock market debut Wednesday as investors bet that an accelerating shift to electronic payment would enrich the world's largest processor of credit and debit cards. The company's shares were priced Tuesday night at $44 a share, raising nearly $18 billion. They finished Wednesday at $56.50, up $12.50, on the New York Stock Exchange. The run-up gave the San Francisco-based company a market value of about $45 billion.

LAKERS AT DETROIT When: 10 a.m. PST. Where : The Palace of Auburn Hills. On the air: TV: TWC SportsNet, TWC Deportes; Radio: 710, 1330. Records: Lakers 21-26; Pistons 18-29. Record vs. Pistons: 1-0. Update: The Lakers' 108-79 victory over Detroit in November was the only one this season for former coach Mike Brown before he was fired. Recently acquired point guard Jose Calderon is doubtful to play Sunday for Detroit because of visa issues.

I grew up abroad and used to take traveling for granted. From the day I was born, my family traveled several times a year. There were summer and winter vacations to exotic islands in the Far East, road trips in Europe, shopping sprees in Hong Kong and the annual trip back to Iraq to visit with family, getting acquainted with the fatherland, so to speak. I traveled so much that I got sick of it at one point and just wanted to settle down. My wish came true when my father retired and we moved back to Baghdad in 1993 -- finally, a place to call home.

The recent agreement between business and labor leaders on how to provide visas for nonagricultural workers in such industries as construction, hotels and restaurants is a surprising and welcome development. Such a breakthrough agreement would have been unthinkable a year ago, when the debate over comprehensive immigration reform was mired in anger and overheated preelection rhetoric. Fortunately, stubborn partisanship has given way to wary pragmatism. As a result, members of Congress and stakeholder groups have resumed negotiations, and deals like the one reached between the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the weekend are possible.

November 29, 1987 | BETTY MAHMOODY and WILLIAM HOFFER, From " Not Without My Daughter ," by Betty Mahmoody with William Hoffer. Copyright 1987, Betty Mahmoody and William Hoffer. Reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Press Inc

It was an unseasonably warm and bright afternoon in mid-autumn when Moody agreed, grudgingly, to Mahtob's request that we go to the park. As we reached the swings and slide at the far end of the park, Mahtob squealed at the sight of a little blond girl, perhaps 4 years old, dressed in shorts and a top and wearing Strawberry Shortcake tennis shoes identical to the ones Mahtob had brought with her from America.

James D. Richman said he charged $100 worth of carpet cleaning while living in Santa Monica, but he got billed for $1,790 on his Visa card statement. Barbara Lee of Westminster paid by check but wrote her Visa number on top. Sure enough, she said, her Visa card was billed for more than $1,600. Then there was Lucille Frost of Santa Ana. She was slapped with $1,389.50 in Visa charges and $1,710.57 in Mastercard charges--all for $75 worth of carpet cleaning. What do these people have in common?

After filing 400 stories from China, reporter Melissa Chan never thought she'd wind up in the headlines herself. Chan returned to Southern California last week as the first accredited foreign correspondent to be expelled from China in 14 years, an act that sparked a flurry of news reports and expressions of solidarity from fellow journalists. Chan, who was the sole Al Jazeera English correspondent in China, said she knew she was on shaky ground for most of this year. She had been working on month-by-month credentials since January, when the government refused a routine visa-renewal request.

Tyler, the Creator's long list of offensive exploits last left off when he made an ad depicting a goat that beats women in pursuit of Mountain Dew. Now, some brutal comments at a recent Australian show has united a right-wing politician and young feminists there in an attempt to get his visa revoked. This latest tempest began earlier this week, when the Australian feminist group Collective Shout began a social media campaign to have Tyler's touring visa canceled, on the grounds that his lyrics allegedly "promote(s)